Special Interview | Sifu CEO Gao Yang takes you to understand the story behind the Code For Better _ Hackathon champion team

On September 16, 2022, the 2022 Code For Better_Hackathon officially came to an end. The competition takes the 2022 Google Developers Conference "CODE FOR BETTER_" as the competition theme. Under the call of "Code for the Future", a large number of entries for various types of real-world problems have emerged in this Hackathon competition, which fully reflects the enthusiasm of developers. And the subjective initiative to pursue a better life.

In the end , the Rethinking.studio team came out on top with its highly creative "Kago Punch Dog" multi-terminal APP work and won the first prize. Kago Punch Dog works uses many technical tools such as Android, Flutter, Material Design, etc., aiming to effectively improve the daily efficiency of workers and better balance work and life.

Introduction of Rethinking.studio team and works

We are Rethinking.studio , a development team that is happy to resign and redefine daily tools. We hope to structure and rethink tools that are inseparable from daily work and life in our own way, to design more practical, easy-to-use, full Everyday tool for a sense of design.

This time, the punch-in dog is also designed for friends who have certain needs for the function of punch-in, such as postgraduate entrance examination, public examination, and cultivation of hobbies. I hope this tool can help you build a self-disciplined and healthy lifestyle in an immersive atmosphere.

team member:

• Zang Qilong, who worked as camera 360, speaks fluent English, grabbed senior iOS development, VP of Rongyun Technology, and is now in a startup company.
• Tan Mengchen, with ten years of experience in product design, independent product designer & multiple entrepreneurs, was the design leader of Minsheng Bank, and is currently the leader of Rongyun Design Center.
• Liao Yiping, full stack engineer, good at Flutter, Node.js front-end and back-end development. The current iOS leader of Money Saver Express.

After the competition, the CEO of SegmentFault specially interviewed Zang Qilong, the representative of the Rethinking.studio team, and listened to him share the story behind the competition.

Hackathons let us turn stress into brain power, CODE FOR BETTER EVERYTHING

Gao Yang, CEO of SegmentFault:

Congratulations to you for winning this year's Hackathon, I'm glad to have the opportunity to have a one-on-one conversation with your team, and we're going to talk about the stories behind your participation today. First of all, I would like to know the original intention and background of your participation in the competition. Why do you want to participate in such a competition? What's the biggest takeaway from this game for you?

The Rethinking.studio team:

I am still coding on the front line. Our team, Rethinking.studio, is actually a relatively loose organization. It consists of a few of our good friends who have known each other for many years. We usually like to get together and brainstorm some innovative products.

Knowing that this Code For Better_ Hackathon was also seen in the circle of friends and many technical communities, we happened to be familiar with Flutter technology, so we wanted to try to participate in the competition. At that time, I didn't have the attitude of insisting on winning the award. I just thought that the three of us would get together and hope to come up with a good product, not to embarrass myself, but also to exercise myself, so it was for this purpose. to participate in the competition.

One of the most important things that I have gained from participating in this competition is that I can make a valuable product in a relatively short period of time and with relatively high relative strength.

Although our three teammates often like to get together to discuss products, there are relatively few products that go from brainstorming to actual implementation. Instead, there needs to be a competition and a pressure to produce results, so that it is easier to implement ideas— — Like this time, we participated in the competition for only about 2,3 weeks, we really came up with a good product, and even we have planned to really further improve it and launch it, which is my biggest gain . Maybe it is really pressure that can give you motivation, turning pressure into brain power and energy.

Gao Yang, CEO of SegmentFault:

Can you tell us about the division of labor and the stories behind your three team members?

The Rethinking.studio team:

Our design and products are called Tan Mengchen. He is also well-known in the design field. He is in the top 100 of Dribbble in China. Many of his works are often recommended on websites such as Zhanku. He got to know him from one of my friends a few years ago. We have worked together for a long time in the entrepreneurial project, and we know each other very well and become very good friends. We often discuss interesting products together and do some small applications together. Another of our teammates, Liao Yiping, is also a multiple-time entrepreneur, and has also worked on system development for many years, and is a full-stack engineer. The three of us all have entrepreneurial backgrounds and like to research products and write code, so it was natural to come together.

In the division of labor of the whole team, Yiping will mainly write the back-end, I am mainly responsible for the client-side writing, and Mengchen is responsible for the design of the product UI, so the three of us team up is equivalent to having both the front-end and back-end as well as the UI. In terms of skills Complementary.

Gao Yang, CEO of SegmentFault:

In fact, it is quite rare. You all have entrepreneurial experience and product technical background, so it will be easier to communicate and resonate with each other.

Not only pay attention to the technology itself, but also pay attention to the needs of users

Gao Yang, CEO of SegmentFault:

Next question, how do you understand the topic of Code For Better_? How did you come up with the idea to create something like this?

The Rethinking.studio team:

In fact, as you said in the finals, I was very impressed, the content behind Code For Better_ needs to be completed by ourselves. Let's start thinking:

• Are there some high-frequency, uncomfortable or inconvenient places in our daily life? We can solve this problem by building a product through code.
• Are there any problems that are inconvenient or cumbersome to use in the currently known products? Can we optimize it?

Focusing on these two points, the reason why we did the work "Punch Dog" actually stemmed from the demand survey. Before we started development, we actually spent four or five days doing "undercover" -- going to Xiaohongshu and Weibo to search for WeChat groups related to the postgraduate entrance examination and public education with some keywords, and join. Then we found that some of the existing cloud self-study room products are not perfect, and their process is very cumbersome. In addition to joining the WeChat group, you also need a to do tool, an APP for live self-study, and send these to the WeChat group Come check in. More importantly, many groups have turned into chat groups. Everyone seems to have forgotten the goal of the postgraduate entrance examination and started a rambling chat.

In order to solve the above pain points, we have made such a product to help everyone focus on their goals and solve the function of mutual check-in and supervision in one stop. We also made a very interesting design. Before you complete the goal of the day, in the check-in group in our app, you can only post "Wang" to be a check-in dog, and you can enter the chat mode after the check-in is completed.

Gao Yang, CEO of SegmentFault:

This is actually a very interesting topic. In the early stage of the competition, I also mentioned that many technical students are easily caught in the code, and they only pay attention to their own code, but do not stand by the user to think about where the real needs are. One of the things you have done well is to go "undercover" in the user group. This kind of Growth Hacker thinking is often a unique advantage of technical students.

We see that the logic of many products is established in the developer's brain hole, but this is not the case in real life. The needs of users actually have a verification process. It is very important that your products truly combine the needs of users. The product can really be used if it can solve the user's pain points.

The Rethinking.studio team:

Yes, there are actually some tricks here, but adding a group is useless, and you may need to guide users sometimes. For example, I will deliberately say that when you use a certain product, it will be troublesome to switch directly between different applications. Is there no one complaining about it? Then they will start complaining at this time, and I will collect these complaints, because the user slot is the point that you can optimize.

Gao Yang, CEO of SegmentFault:

Do you have any ideas for using this product in the future? Or is there a follow-up iteration plan for this product?

The Rethinking.studio team:

I really plan to continue to improve this product and then officially launch it. When making this product, a more complete product form was derived at the same time. The punch-in function only accounts for 30%-40%. After completion, we plan to officially launch this product in mid-to-early October. Everyone saw that a real live project was born in Code For Better_ Hackathon, which I think is quite valuable.

"Out-of-the-box" Google technology makes our development fast and good

Gao Yang, CEO of SegmentFault:

It's very interesting that the birth of this app actually stems from the fact that you found a real need, and then used the design of Better Product to solve users' needs and optimize their experience. So behind the realization of these functions, what Google technologies have you used? Why choose to use these technology stacks?

The Rethinking.studio team:

In terms of back-end and design, there is no need to worry about the selection. The main part is whether we use Native Android or Flutter to do it. We thought about it or it would be faster to use Flutter. Indeed, from the quality and speed of implementation, if you want to pay equal attention to both, in fact, the best choice is Flutter, because the framework of Flutter is really strong, and he can basically do it fast and well.

After determining the prototype and direction of this product, we did not hesitate to use Flutter to complete the entire framework. Of course, we also used some other capabilities, such as video connection and access to some instant messaging IM tools for sending messages, and then quickly completed a relatively complete project.

I think it is very important that we are not working on this project very early, we only started doing it after participating in this competition, which is relatively more difficult.

Gao Yang, CEO of SegmentFault:

How long did it take from the idea to when you actually completed the development?

The Rethinking.studio team:

In fact, we are still working hard, because we usually work at work, and when we make this product at night, we will work almost every day until 2 o'clock. Yiping and I have written about it for about 7 days, and we use it for more than 6~7 hours a day. on coding.

Gao Yang, CEO of SegmentFault:

Let's go back to the topic of technology. Are there any other Google technology stacks that you would like to learn and apply in the future, or technologies that you are already using, but not used in this competition?

The Rethinking.studio team:

In fact, what I want to learn most in the future or further study is Google's machine learning-related technologies, such as TensorFlow.

Because my last entrepreneurial experience was closely related to machine learning. Of course, I was not responsible for this part of machine learning before. I was still more front-end, but I also had a certain understanding of the entire framework history of machine learning at that time. , including Google's contributions in this area. But there has never been such a time and opportunity to really calm down and learn. Through this competition, I also have a deeper understanding of Google's related technology stack, and I will further study and comprehend it in the future.

Gao Yang, CEO of SegmentFault:

After talking so much, let's talk about Google technology in your eyes?

The Rethinking.studio team:

The first technology I really came into contact with was actually Android development, during which I also did other development work. What I have felt a lot about in the past two years is that Google has brought a better and better coding experience to developers.

Because I understand that programmers should not waste too much energy on a lot of infrastructure, causing a lot of mental burden. So now I think Google's overall infrastructure (ecology) is getting stronger and stronger, and people can write code and have a pleasant feeling of body and mind.

Gao Yang, CEO of SegmentFault:

In addition to attending Hackathon like this time we cooperated with Google, have you followed Google's other events or training courses before?

The Rethinking.studio team:

Every year I follow Google Developers Conference, Google I/O, etc. Because I am also the person in charge of the company's technology, I actually know the latest developments in mobile terminal development, such as whether there are any new features launched, and see if there is any possibility of commercialization... Because eating technology I must invest some energy to do these things. By participating in a series of Google activities, I can quite grasp the trend of technology.

At the end of the interview, the Rethinking.studio team also issued an invitation to developers:

Hackathon's biggest revelation to me is that it's not just a competition, it can also convert stress into your brainpower, energy, and finally into a product, which is considered the greatest value. All students who want to challenge themselves or feel the fun of the competition should actively participate in such competitions, which is also a very good exercise for themselves.

Want to learn more about the competition's exciting works? Click to watch the video:

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Kd4y1M7Sv/?aid=345817857&cid=840889922&page=1

SegmentFault Hackathon 2023, see you there!

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